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Did you know that if you have been involved in an accident that was not your fault, you may be entitled to compensation? I would say that most of you are aware of this, given that there has been a lot of advertising on this matter in recent times.  However, are you aware that the compensation that you could be awarded does not solely relate to the injuries you have suffered? I would hazard a guess that most are probably unaware of this.  The reality is that if you have been involved in an accident that was not your fault, you are entitled to make a claim for compensation that covers ALL of your losses. 

What do I mean by all of your losses? 

Well, here is a very quick example – if you have had to take time off work because of your accident, it may be that you have only been paid statutory sick pay, and that you have lost out on a certain amount of wages. Well, your lawyers can make a claim for this loss of earnings to make sure that you are put back in the position you would have been in had the accident not have occurred.  So, what exactly can a claim for compensation incorporate?  Here is a quick guide:
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If you are reading this blog, you may have been involved in a road traffic accident, and are suffering the effects of whiplash. If you are keeping up with the latest news, then you may also be expecting to get some calls and texts from law firms or referral agencies saying that they would like to take on your claim.

I say this as this is what happened to one of Jack Straw’s constituents after he had suffered an accident.  It was subsequently found that insurers actually sell on the information of their customers who have been involved in accidents. We of course have known about this practice for years. The good news is that it’s now more out in the open!

Law firms can pay up to £800, or even £1000, as it was reported in the Telegraph, for a claim. So if a law firm has paid so much for your claim, the profits they stand to make from the claim are greatly reduced. In order to redress the balance, it can then mean that they reduce the amount of time they spend on your claim, and therefore give you a poorer service. This in turn could impact on the amount of compensation you receive if they are not willing to fight tooth and nail to negotiate you the highest amount possible.
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If you have been involved in an accident where you have sustained an injury through no fault of your own, you may well be entitled to compensation.  For example, if you have been involved in a road traffic accident whereby a negligent third party driver has gone in to the rear of your vehicle, and you have sustained whiplash, in all likelihood you will be entitled to compensation for your injuries.

Although you may not be aware that you are entitled to compensation, there is no doubt about it that the other side’s insurers are fully aware of your position.  As such, they may somewhat, out of the blue, get in touch with you and offer to settle your claim with you direct.  They may offer you £250, £500, or maybe even £750.  At first instance, this may seem attractive; after all, you were not expecting any compensation, and you think that the offer sounds great.  But please take a step back for a minute.  Should you not look into how much your injury is actually worth? Why not get in touch with a quality injury lawyer who may inform you that, actually, your whiplash injury is worth over £1,000?

The process where the other side gets in touch with you and settles your claim directly with you is called ‘third party capture’.  This is because the other side have settled your claim for compensation in full and final settlement and you cannot go back and ask for more if your injuries have worsened, and you have not recovered.  That is it – your claim is finished.  At The Injury Lawyers, we have people ringing up each week asking us about their potential claim for compensation, only for us to have to break the bad news that they have under-settled their claim, and that there is nothing we can do about it.  What we ask is that if you receive an offer for compensation, you ask yourself why they are making this offer, and where they came up with the amount.  Are they doing it out of the kindness of their heart, and because they care about your suffering? Or are they doing it because they know that if they can get you to accept their offer, they have saved hundreds, if not, thousands, of pounds in not paying the true amount of compensation they would have had to have paid you with an expert injury lawyer on your side.  I believe the latter is the most likely.
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Whiplash compensation, or compensation for any injury, is split into two heads of claim – one for general damages, and one for special damages. Damages means the money that you get to settle your claim. I will go onto discuss each one in turn.

General Damages

General damages is compensation which you can claim for your injuries. A solicitor will place a value on your general damages by looking at the factors below:
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At The Injury Lawyers, we have a vast amount of experience in dealing with whiplash claims – and that is why we can say with confidence that we fight tooth and nail to get you the best possible amount of compensation.

Causes

We tend to see whiplash as a result of road traffic accidents more than anything else. This is because whiplash is caused by a sudden jolt to the head which thus causes the neck to move beyond its normal range. The impact felt from a car crash can have this jolting effect on the neck causing damage to muscles and tendons in that area.
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This is a common question that I hear from clients at The Injury Lawyers – not only at the start of their claim, but throughout the various stages. It can be a difficult question to answer, however; especially at the outset of a claim because a specialist personal injury lawyer would need various items such as a medical report to make an accurate valuation on your injury.

A specialist personal injury lawyer may use the following in order to value your claim;

1. A medical report – as mentioned in the opening paragraph, a medical report contains vital information assessing your injuries and detailing the various effects that injury has had on your life. A lawyer would use this as a basis for a valuation on your claim.

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What is whiplash? How does it affect you? How can you make a claim for it? These are three of the primary questions that people ask about whiplash claims and whiplash injuries. So – Here’s a little advice to help you out!

Whiplash Explained

Whiplash is a general term used to describe the damage to muscles, ligaments and tendons, normally in the neck, back, and shoulders area, from the areas being stretched beyond their normal range of movement. The stretch occurs from a the fast back, forwards, or sideways movement caused normally from a collision or a harsh brake in a vehicle, or even from slipping over and falling fast, or a fall from height.
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A whiplash injury is normally caused after a road accident – it can also be caused after a slip or a fall, however. Basically, anything that involves your neck / head being jolted forwards, backwards, or sideways quickly can cause a whiplash injury. It’s called whiplash for a reason – imagine an actual whip hitting a tree. It flies forward at speed, cracks the tree, and whips back. It’s this sharp movement that normally causes the injury.

When a whiplash injury occurs, your muscles and ligaments are stretched beyond their normal range of movement. This can lead to several symptoms that sufferers will endure; the below are all classis symptoms of a whiplash injury:

• Pain in the neck, shoulders, and all over, or just particular sections of, the back.
• Reduced movement and stiffness in the affected areas.
• Sleeping difficulties caused by the pain.
• Headaches – sometimes drowsiness, dizziness, and even vertigo in some cases.

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Making a claim for compensation for an injury which you have suffered through no fault of your own, but through the negligence of a third party, is relatively straightforward.  Some of you reading this may have been led to believe that a claim can take years on end and may think that it is not worth pursuing.  Well, the reality is that although some cases can take a couple of years, others can be settled within a matter of months.  In fact, if you instruct a quality injury lawyer who offers a quality and speedy service, your claim should be progressed at every available opportunity, and your claim can be done and dusted in no time at all.

Personal injury claims are governed by the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal injury claims.  Your specialist injury lawyer will firstly collate all your accident details from you, and then produce a Letter of Claim containing all these details which is forwarded to the negligent third party.  Under the protocol they are allowed a period of 21 days in which to respond to this Letter of Claim.  Once they do this, they are allowed a period of 3 months to investigate your claim. 

Now, before you think ‘3 months!?’ – It is important to note that this is the maximum period of time they are allowed to investigate your claim.  If their investigations only take 3 weeks, they can admit liability after 3 weeks, and your claim can be settled much sooner.  So really it depends on how proactive and efficient the other side are at dealing with your claim, and how much fight your lawyers have in them to chase up the other side.
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Sadly, road traffic accidents are a frequent occurrence on our roads.  Often it is just the motor vehicles involved that are damaged, and then it is a matter for your insurer and the other party’s insurer to sort it out.  Granted, it can be a huge inconvenience.  However, people often get injured in road accidents too.  It is not purely vehicles which are damaged.  If you have been involved in a road accident which was not your fault, but the fault of a negligent third party driver, and you have been injured as a result, then in all likelihood you may well have a claim for compensation for the injuries that you have suffered.

Making this claim for compensation is actually pretty straightforward.  Before April 2010, it could take a matter of months for your claim to be dealt with and settled; now, under a new protocol for low value personal injury claims which arise from a road traffic accident, your claim can be settled in only a matter of weeks or just a few months.  Unlike the previous protocol where the other side could take a period of around 4 months to investigate your claim, under this new protocol, they have a period of only 15 business days to admit or deny liability for your accident once they have received notice of your claim.

The first step is to complete what is know as a Claims Notification Form.  This is a straightforward document in which your personal details and other accident details are required.  Don’t worry if you do not like forms – at The Injury Lawyers, our quality injury lawyers are always at your beck and call to give you a hand.  Once this is completed, the claim form is submitted online to the other side’s insurer.  They then have a period of 1 business day to acknowledge receipt and commence their investigations.  During the next 15 days, they will come back to your injury lawyer with an admission or denial of liability.
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